Chapter 160 Lord Ning never changed his mind
He Danggui nodded and said, “It’s better. I hope you can keep your words, although I never expect that.”
Meng Xuan pointed at Bai Yangbai and said, “Taoist Sage is the witness. Are you still afraid that I do not keep them?”
He Danggui said indifferently, “His nickname is ‘The old con man’, and the credibility of him isn’t better than yours.”
At that time, Bai Yangbai, who was mentioned, was so nervous that he was sweating on his head and his face got a cramp, even the grass around him were pulled up. It was strange! At beginning, they were talking about Qian Mudan and Qian Shuixian, but suddenly they were mad at each other. They talked about He Danggui’s heart, and then they talked about Meng Xuan’s credibility. Now they were settling the old accounts and breaking off all relations with each other. How strange they were!
It was dark. Meng Xuan and He Danggui had nothing to say, so the 3 people were sitting at the grassland silently, which was shrouded by darkness. Finally, Bai Yangbai broke the silence and asked, “Girl, do we still save this woman?” He pointed at Qian Mudan, whose face and hands were pricked by silver needles. At this moment, she was not only getting a nosebleed, but the bloods were oozing from her eyes, mouth and ears. She shook her head and shoulder slightly, which looked very terrifying.
When He Danggui heard what Bai Yangbai said, she turned around and took silver needles back. She murmured, “If a friend has faults, try your best to persuade him and guide him to the good way. But if he doesn’t accept, you shouldn’t force him and ask for an insult. Qian Mudan didn’t listen to me. She was suicidal. What can I say? Bai Yangbai, find Guard Zhan to cut her.”
“Really?” Bai Yangbai goggled at her and asked, “Aren’t you the most excellent doctor in the world?”
“I have excellent medical skill,” He Danggui said in a fit of pique, “But I don’t have a good medical ethics. It’s inconvenient for me to save her, so I don’t want to do. It’s none of my business whether she is alive or not.” The real reason was that she knew few about the type of venomous insect and didn’t know how to detoxify it. She had heard from Jiugu that each venomous insect had equivalent poison, and only the person who planted the venomous insect knew how to detoxify it. Maybe Qian Mudan’s sister or her families poisoned her. It was difficult for others to recognize. What Meng Xuan said was right. She was selfish. Trying her best to climb out of the hell and coming back were not for being a Hua Tuo to save people. There should not be a doctor whose medical skill was outstanding than Luo Maitong in the world.
Bai Yangbai nodded and said, “You are right. It nice for you to know this. I couldn’t bear that you take care of everything but everyone blames you. You have always led to self-injury. Why? Now you can understand that. It’s wonderful!” Then he tried to stand up, but he was stopped by He Danggui. He Danggui tore another sleeve up from him and wrapped all her silver needles. Bai Yangbai sighed, “You can only walk over me. No one else.”
Meng Xuan couldn’t help reminding her, “Be careful! Don’t prick your fingers. It has severe toxicity. You should clean it up before you use it next time. First, polish it by fine sandpapers. Then, soak it into mercury. Finally, ...”
“You needn’t tell me. I know much more than you.” He Danggui’s words made Meng Xuan feel a little unpleasant. Then she turned around and perfunctorily told Bai Yangbai, who looked on, “I can do nothing here, so I come back home. Please tell Qing that I can’t accompany her to Yi Hong Brothel. When Guard Zhan is coming, you tell him to cut Qian Mudan’s right hand. This hand collected her 70% toxicity. After cutting her hand, she can survive for 20 years. The academy must invite her parents. If there is no objection, you can cut it as quickly as possible. Her acupoints can only be sealed up by my silver needles for less than 2 hours. That’s all. You can leave.”
Bai Yangbai returned the 4 dolls back to He Danggui. He smiled and said, “Those 4 dolls are less beautiful than yours, which is hanging on your bedside. Just the little girl and the pig. The little girl is you. Ha-ha.”
He Danggui looked at him skeptically and asked, “Bai Yangbai, have you... disguised and sneaked into Luo’s Mansion?”
“Yes!” Bai Yangbai seemed to forget Qian Mudan who was at death’s door. He uninhibitedly sat and was cross-legged. He recalled his bad taste tricks, “A year ago, I traveled and arrived at your home, so I disguised as a maid who had just come in to the side door. The manservant, named Ma Douling, who guarded the entrance, was shocked when he opened the door. After all, the maid was just coming in. Ha-ha, his expression was so funny. When I just went in, I met the administrator Li of garden. He should go back to his hometown for the funeral, so I pretended to be him and worked in your home for a month. I still helped him get a month’s salary. Girl, I had talked to you in Luo’s Mansion.”
He Danggui said indifferently, “You are so boring that waste time to plant flowers in Luo’s Mansion instead of pursuing beauty and power.”
Bai Yangbai winked and smiled, “I’m not only planting flowers. One day, at dusk, I made up for Madam Luo, and came to your Tao Yao Yard, asking for a cup of tea. You made the tea for me immediately. I asked you to massage my shoulder, and you did. I asked you to massage my leg, but you looked at me doubtfully. I was so scared and left immediately. Girl, do you remember? You wore so cool at that time. I advised you to wear more clothes, but you said you are not cold...”
He Danggui gritted her teeth, “I want to strangle you.”
“But I did some good things,” Bai Yangbai wanted to save his face hastily, “The woman Dong made trouble for you twice. She wanted to take Luo Shizhu back, but Luo Shizhu didn’t want to leave. Every time that she beat and scolded you, it was me who made up for Madam Luo to help you. After that, I also came to Liu Li Tang and scolded her. Did you discover that she made trouble for rarely at that time? And your Second Aunt, she incited Madam Luo to give you a foot binding. She put the lime on the gauze and bound your feet in front of Madam Luo. When you came back and took the lime apart, your feet were burned. When I knew, I went to avenge you.”
He Danggui narrowed her eyes and asked, “What did you do?”
Bai Yangbai giggled and said, “I made up for her husband and went to the hot spring in the backyard, putting 2 jin chili powders in it. I also stole her changing clothes and some stomachers and hung them on the crowded main street. But I absolutely don’t peep at her. She asked me to help her scrub her back, but I refused.”
“Bai Yangbai, you are so boring,” He Danggui said coldly, “Never approach to that woman. Around her daughter, there was a female guard who has excellent martial arts and is very murderous. They’ve never heard Taoist Sage. If you are exposed, they will use all the penalties and make you to be a homunculus. Then you will be collected in the east latrine. No one will help you at that time.”
Bai Yangbai clenched on his breast and said, “I’m so scared! Girl, don’t frighten me. I’ve been scared since I was a kid.”
Meng Xuan kept silent for a moment, and he said suddenly, “Taoist Sage, I investigated you. I know you are a 34- or 35-year-old man, but the girl is in her early teens. Even you are cynical and like to play jokes, but you shouldn’t play tricks on her. Please remember the chastity between woman and man, and don’t do that thing again.”
Bai Yangbai puckered his lips and looked at He Danggui for seeking help, but He Danggui said nothing. First, she didn’t want Bai Yangbai to do it again. She didn’t want that every time when she saw Madam Luo, she should distinguish whether she was the real Madam Luo, and she also didn’t want Bai Yangbai to provoke Sun Meiniang, who was very vicious. Second, it was enough for her to have a quarrel with Meng Xuan today. She never expected that the little master, the smart boy who was her intimate, guided her and had the same experience with her, broke her reliance and fantasy when they met again. He not only was vexatious, scolded her and inquired about her secrets, just like she owed him a lot, but he disclosed her scar in particular, talking about Zhu Quan again and again.
She had never heard the name “Zhu Quan” for almost 1 year. She thought everything would be fine, and she didn’t have nightmares every night just like 3 years ago. But she never expected that when she heard it again, she was not as clam as she thought. She still feared for this.
Especially Feng Yang came to see Jiugu several times every year, and then he brought her various ambiguous gifts in passing. He threatened her if she refused the friend gifts, he would give those to Madam Luo as the betrothal presents for Lord Ning. Yes, it was Ning Yuan who escaped hastily 3 years ago. Feng Yang indicated his identity and also said that Lord Ning never changed his mind, and she would know it when time was right. What kind of mind? What kind of opportunity? Did he regard her as a lamb to be slaughtered? Put her in Luo’s Mansion first, and when she grew up, pulled her out of Luo’s Mansion to the operation of slaughter.
She was very uptight in those days. After the new year, she was 14-year-old. The ordinary kids worn the new clothes happily, but she was uneasy because of Zhu Quan’s threatening words. Particularly, when she thought her previous life, after new year, she saved Zhu Quan’s wet nurse, and then a matchmaker was coming. Just because of several words, she became Lord Ning’s concubine and she began her nightmare. A few days ago, a green covered palanquin from north came here, packing her furtively for a long time, and coming in the Lord Ning’s Mansion from the back door.
How could she want to repeat that nightmare? She had fought against it. One year ago, she was unwilling to accept this fate. She wanted to fight against it and put Zhu Quan through hell, stopping his malicious idea. So, she asked Xiaoyou to go to Daning and collect the evidence of Ning Yuan’s absence from duty for a long time, when he detained in Yangzhou City.
If she got this evidence, with the jade in her hands, she could write a secret letter to sue that Zhu Quan arbitrarily left his fief. Although it was an old issue, she had the jade pendant with Azure Dragon that the Emperor bestowed to Zhu Quan as the evidence, and the situation in the capital was more serious than several years ago, just one grass could stir the pool. Lord Ning left fief and made friends with the Young Lord of Jianghu organizations. If those activities were disclosed a little to the Emperor, there must be a lot of busybodies dug the whole thing to show the Emperor. When Zhu Quan was busy repairing his image, he had no time to pursue pretty women.
But half month later, Xiaoyou came back from Daning and took no evidence about Lord Ning’s absence. Instead, he took the information about the glorious deeds that he battled with soldiers in Daning Drill Ground. In other words, when Ning Yuan recovered in Luo’s Mansion, Lord Ning also appeared in Daning, so the jade pendant with Azure Dragon in her hands not only could not be the evidence, but if Zhu Qian accused that she stole the jade, or she accepted robbers’ booty, and possessed the jade illegally, she would be arrested by imperial guards, and went to “chat” with Tie Nan, the Director of the Highest Judiciary.
When she had no choice, Feng Yang came with a smile. He told her a shocking and despairing information... When Xiaoyou just arrived in Daning, Zhu Quan knew his traces immediately. Zhu Quan had seen Xiaoyou in Luo’s Mansion. Thinking of the content that Xiaoyou investigated in the army, he knew that she asked Xiaoyou to investigate him.
Feng Yang told her with a smile. It was such a fortune for her to be loved by his friend. She should appreciate it rather than play tricks behind Lord Ning’s back. It was impossible for Lord Ning to change his mind and let her go. Even there was something wrong, as his character, he would be more possessive and desired to conquer. Feng Yang told her in particular that Lord Ning wanted to wait for 1 or 2 years, but now, he couldn’t wait. Every time when he talked about her name, his eyes lighted.
After she sent Feng Yang whose smile was full of ambiguities out, she hid behind the rockery and stared blankly. She never expected that young Zhu Quan was so sinister and everything he did was watertight. She couldn’t do anything about him. What should she do? Ask for help? The first one that she thought was not Duan Xiaolou, who told her several times that when she needed help, she could deliver letters by pigeons to tell him. Although Duan Xiaolou said firmly that he could protect her, how could she occupy his concerns and attentions? His mother arranged a betrothal for Guan Yun and him. Since she didn’t love him, she wouldn’t bother him and force him to Lord Ning’s opposite side. She had owed him a lot.
In such anxious and fearful situations, the first one appeared in her mind was Meng Xuan, and then was Bai Yangbai.
Bai Yangbai was Zhu Quan’s teacher. Although Bai Yangbai never told her, if she found Bai Yangbai and begged him to persuade Zhu Quan, maybe Zhu Quan agreed to let her go. If it was no use, she could connect with Meng Xuan and asked him to tell Madam Luo that he wanted her to be his concubine. And she would imply Madam Luo, so it would succeed. If both the methods were failure, she could only pretend that she went to Sanqing Temple to visit her mother, and never came back. She would leave Luo’s Mansion forever, hid her name, changed her appearance, and restarted her life.
Although she never met Meng Xuan for 3 years, and she didn’t have a deep relationship with Meng Xuan, when she thought of him, she eased. Because of him, she could feel that she was not a grass with no root, and would break off in the wind. Since she knew that he died in the battlefield in the first year of Jianwen Period, and he came back to Meng’s Family as an infant. She put down her inner defense to the boy who had the same experience with her, and depended on him that she couldn’t believe. Whether in her previous life or this life, she never depended on others. She learned not to depend on anyone early.
She relied on Meng Xuan, and regarded him as her intimate and family member. She even couldn’t help telling her secrets to him, but she was afraid that she would repeat the experience of her previous life. She mistrusted someone and exposed all her abilities. Finally, she found that she was so blind to believe an evil man.
Although she mastered his secrets, he was so powerful, both inside and outside. He had the confidence to tell others his secrets, while she didn’t have this confidence to believe others. In these contradiction and anxiety, every time when she faced with his frank eyes and dazzling smile, she was extremely guilty. In order to reduce this feeling or avoid disclosing her secrets, she pretended to be indifferent to him, ignoring his kindness which was beyond “the agreement of teaching kung fu”.
After Meng Xuan left, she thought that she would never believe others. She held her secrets lonely and covered her sadness. She thought that she would live in this world as a person who stayed beyond the world and understood thoroughly about people until she died. However, a girl named Liao Qing’er came into her life.
After the opening ceremony 3 years ago, she had a friend, Liao Qing’er. Because both of them were strange in academy, and between the strange people, they could sometimes be friends. Although Qing’er was strange, she didn’t hate her. On the fifth day, they became friends. Qing’er murmured that she came from another space-time... At that time, Qing’er thought that she could understand, but she believed that Qing’er was same as her. So, she regarded Qing’er as her intimate and became more kind to Liao Qing’er.
In the Dragon Boat Race Festival half a year ago, when Qing’er was going to die, they knew the secrets of each other. She knew Qing’er’s situation was different from hers. Qing’er was coming from another space-time. Qing’er quickly understood her renascence and comforted her that it was common. So, when Qing’er recovered, their relationship became better. They finally understood the precocity, which didn’t belong to this age, and the marvelous and bold idea of business.
But for the problem of Zhu Quan, Liao Qing’er couldn’t help her. The only one that could help her was Meng Xuan. Although she didn’t know whether he was willing to help her by marrying a nominal concubine and then let her go. But she really thought about in her heart and told herself, if she couldn’t keep going, maybe she could find a shoulder to depend on. Meng Xuan’s shoulder must be broader. Maybe he was willing to hold her hand and took her out of the complicated Go board or took her way from this endless sea of dense fog.
Now, they met again. He was as taller as she thought. He became stronger and more reliable. He became the man who could protect her, but she never expected that all her expectations and trusts gave to a wrong man.
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